Our Hawaii Vacation

I'd forgotten the lull of the sound of the surf pounding, the gorgeous blue of the ocean, and the peaceful feeling all around. It's so good to be back in Hawaii! Our last trip was 5 years ago, right after our oldest had turned 3. He was deathly afraid of the waves at the beach, and din't like the feel of the sand all that much so we spent a lot of time at the pool instead (he LOVES water otherwise). This time, the kids are 8 and almost 4 (youngest will celebrate her birthday while we're here).

This trip came about because hubby's company has an office here on Oahu and every July Quarterly Alignment Meeting the families are invited - they pay for a spouse/SO's ticket; we pick up the kids. We weren't going to come (bad history of poor communication/not-on-the-same-page-expectations and major fights between me and hubby), but this time, the guy in charge of the Oahu office needed hubby to work a few days of the following week too, and we hate Dad being gone over the weekend. So off we all went, on a 7 hour plane ride! Here's the view of the Rockies this time of year and Oahu just before landing:





We stayed at the JW Marriott, which the NFL books for the Pro Bowl. We can see why (it was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and a little boring - one pool that was only 3.5 ft deep). The drive up to the entrance:


The view from our room:


The munchkins are very happy playing with friends they haven't seen in a year! My daughter took to the ocean with absolutely no fear (unlike her big brother when we were here last). He's gotten over that issue. lol One day in the pool the kids started an innocent game of Keep-Away between themselves. Not content to let them play in peace, the [adults] joined in and took over the entire pool during the process! The kids were quicker, but the adults used guile and strength (ie, they cheated, bodily tossing the kids away from the ball so they could retrieve it instead!).


I've started my sauteeing (I packed spf 8, or Canola Oil as hubby calls it! Of everyone, I'm the only one who hasn't burned yet - they're wearing 50)! It's been waaayyy too long since I've been properly tan...

If it weren't for the palm trees, it almost looks like a Colorado mountain - brown and shrubby:

This is the Ko Olina area, not as much rainfall here.

Every morning, the sand zamboni came out and smoothed the beach - did you know they even had such things? I've been cautioned to watch for any zombies they might disturb!


More pics to follow, but I'll end with the quintessential sunset shots:

So we went for a catamaran boat trip to snorkel and eat! Had a special treat of being entertained by the dolphins! Unfortunately, I accidentally erased the video I took of their antics, but a few pics show their prowess and them swimming right under our feet.












Here sharky, sharky, sharky!!


This is looking over toward our hotel.


Going...

Going...

Gone!

And no matter where I went, I can't seem to get away from reminders of 285Bound!





Coincidence??? Hmmm...! :rofl